well, found a shop to put a heli-coil in the spindle. not what i prefer to do, but seems no one around here welds cast iron and i really didn't want to have to go to a larger size bolt and reem the caliper too.
then, just to be consistent with my project, he calls me in an hour and already has it done, but dispite leaving on of the caliper bolts with him, he puts in a 1.75 pitch (should be 1.5) because "that's all he has" and never checked the bolt.
so much for consistent hardware. i hate one-offs.